


Dark in the Light

by MatveySunflower



Series: Pocket Full of Stars [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bioluminescence, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuddling, Gay Keith (Voltron), I actually wrote this for a creative writing class and got an A, It's mostly about Klance, Lance is scared of the dark, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Soulmates, The others are only there as filler, They're like in high school but not, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 00:03:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16544909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MatveySunflower/pseuds/MatveySunflower
Summary: Everyone is born with a soulmate. We can see every color except the color of our soulmate’s eyes, which remains black and white until we see their eyes. Then the first time we see that color it’s in their eyes. It's normal for people to not see blue or green or brown, but what happens when your supposed soulmate has gray eyes? Answer: bioluminescence.





	Dark in the Light

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a couple of years ago for a creative writing class and forgot I actually wanted to post it on here. I was originally going to make it longer, but I like it the way it is for now. So strap in and get ready for another sappy soulmate AU!

As far as anyone else was concerned, May 25th was a normal day like any other. But if you ask me, May 25th was the most amazing, frustrating day in the history of days. Why? Well, allow me to start at the beginning. Not the actual beginning, like when I was born… Just, like, May 11th. Exactly two weeks before that fated day…

 

**Tuesday, May 11th 4:58pm**

My eyes fly open, heart racing and breath labored, startled awake by a nightmare. I slowly pry myself away from the pillow I was clutching, breathing deep and verbally telling myself that everything is okay when I can’t even remember falling asleep.

Books tumble off the bed as I untangle myself from the sheets. My phone swears it’s 5:00pm but it feels more like three in the morning. I sluggishly drag myself from my room and pad down the hall with bare feet.

“Mornin’ sleepyhead!” My roommate greets me from the kitchen.

I blink at him groggily, “Huh?”

“You fell asleep studying again didn’t you?” Hunk asks. “You might want to put on some pants,” he jabs a finger towards my legs.

I look down at my bare legs and vaguely remember kicking off my pants right before I passed out and now I’m standing here in the kitchen in my boxers and a lion shirt. “What, you don’t like Captain America?” I raise my eyebrows seriously at Hunk and smirk.

“No, no, I do. I just don’t think the neighbors would appreciate a repeat of Halloween.”

I feel my face flush. I’ll spare you the details, mostly because they’re super embarrassing. Let’s just say that my neighbors are some of the few people who know I have a weird, Texas-shaped birthmark on my left butt cheek. “Hunk!” I most certainly _don’t_ whine, “You promised we’d never speak of that again!”

Hunk chuckles, “Exactly. Go put your clothes on. Shay’s coming over to study tonight and I don’t want you to scare her away with your weirdness.”

I wave my hand, “Pft, please. I’m fabulous and you know it.” I crack up laughing when Hunk smacks his hand to his face.

“Lance, please! I’ll make you food.” He begs.

I sigh dramatically, “Fiiine!” I draw out the word, sulking back to my room to pull on some dark blue sweatpants and grab my phone. I don’t bother with the blue-tint glasses on my dresser. I don’t normally wear them around the flat anyway. When I rejoin Hunk in the kitchen he hands me an omelet with a side of bacon. “Breakfast? At night?” I question my friend suspiciously.

“I want you to behave tonight, so consider this a bribe.”

I eye the plate and sit at our small table. “I’ll accept your bribery _if_ you have chocolate milk.”

Hunk gives me a smug smile and sets a glass of chocolate milk in front of me, “Here you go!”

My eyes light up, “Hunk! You’re seriously the best.” I take a big swig of milk and almost cheer in delight. “I promise I’ll be good tonight. Just for you.”

“Yeah, and not for your own pride?” He shakes his head and thanks me, then goes back to preparing snacks and stuff for our study group. “Oh hey, I invited Pidge.” He says, not bothering to look up.

“Isn’t she too young? We’re doing pretty advanced stuff.”

“She’s studying for her entrance exam,” Hunk explains. “She’s trying to skip some intermediate courses.”

I whistle, “Wow. How many grades did she skip again?”

Hunk snorts, “Two. Unfair, I know, but Pidge is brilliant. I really hope she makes it.” I agree and chew my omelet thoughtfully.

My phone buzzes and I look at it to see I’ve gotten a text from Keith.

_K: Sorry, I can’t make it today. Shiro and I are driving home this weekend because apparently Mom fell down some stairs or something._

I quickly text back, worried.

_L: OMG is she okay?!_

_K: Yeah, she’s fine. Just sprained her wrist and broke an ankle or foot or something._

_L: Give her a hug for me! We’ll miss you._

Translate loosely to ‘I’ll miss you.’

“Keith isn’t coming,” I say out loud, frowning at my phone.

“Are you disappointed?”

“I don’t like that tone in your voice,” I glare at my roommate. “What are you insinuating?”

“Nothing, nothing.” Hunk is smiling like an idiot. I hate it.

“I hate you. I am not interested in Keith. We’ve been over this.” I take my plate over but Hunk motions for me to just set it on the counter.

“Yeah,” he says, “we’ve discussed how much you’ve been crushing on him. You can’t keep it a secret from me Lance, I know everything.”

“It’s not like it matters anyway. He wouldn’t want to go out with his not-soul-mate.”

“You don’t know that,” Hunk chastises. “Not everyone is like that. You’re not like that.”

I hum and go flop on the couch, “You’re right,” I sigh.

Now allow to explain this a little, for those of you reading the abridged version. Everyone is born with a soul mate. We can see every color except the color of our soulmate’s eyes, which remains black and white until we see their eyes. Then the first time we see that color it’s in their eyes. Such a weird concept, but it’s what we live with. It’s normal for people to not see blue or green or brown, and just see a gray sky or gray grass or whatever. But what happens when your supposed soulmate has gray eyes? What happens then? What do you see? Answer: bioluminescence. Maybe not _bio_ , so to speak, but that’s what I always called it. For them it’s easy to figure out what color your child can’t see. You can just hold up crayons or point to paint splotches and they’ll tell you which two look the same. But for me, well… my mother always thought I simply didn’t have a soulmate because I could see all the rainbow colors. Imagine 6-year-old Lance watching Animal Planet about bioluminescent worms and calling them gray, like my crayons. Mom finally understood. It certainly explained the crying fits and the fear of the dark and the pain I seemed to be in often. After all, human eyes aren’t accustomed to a bombardment of confusing lights. They say I was lucky not to be epileptic.

Yeah, lucky…

Anyway, back to the present. Where were we? Oh yes, I was totally _not_ disappointed that Keith wasn’t coming over. Totally not…

 

**Tuesday, May 11th 7:04pm**

Pidge is the first to arrive carrying her backpack and a couple of text books. “Mom said Matt would be by to pick me up at eight thirty,” she settles down on one of our comfy chairs. You’ll notice how she’s writing in a dark green pen instead of normal pencil. That’s for my benefit. If she asks me check her work, I need to be able to read it instead of seeing bright spots on a white page. In fact, I notice she’s purposefully not wearing any gray! Pidge rocks. Oh, and before you ask, her color is brown. Hunk’s is too. That’s the most common one, unsurprisingly.

I scan the book on the coffee table in front of me and scribble a note in my notebook in blue pen. I’m not paying very close attention so I have no idea what I’m actually taking notes on. I only told Hunk I’d _act_ good. Never promised I’d pay attention.

A few minutes later there’s a knock on the door and Hunk runs to answer it. A second later he’s leading Shay into the living room.

I look up at her and feel a familiar pinch in my temple brought on by what I assume is her gray shirt. The flat is supposed to be my Safe Zone.

“Shay, you remember Lance and Pidge?” Hunk gestures to each of us in turn.

“Of course. It’s nice to see you both again.”

“You too Shay. My, my, aren’t you just positively _glowing_ tonight?” I’m rewarded by Pidge’s snickering.

Shay blushes, “E-excuse me? Is he hitting on me?” She turns to Hunk in confusion.

Hunk groans, “No, no, he’s just an idiot. And he actually means you’re glowing. He can’t see the color gray.”

A look of understanding crosses her face, quickly replaced by confusion, “If you can’t see gray then what-“

“Bioluminescence.” Pidge, Hunk, and I chorus in flat tones.

“Bio… lumi… you mean like glow worms?”

I nod, “Yep!” I pop the ‘p’ and smile. “Imagine white and neon colors under a black light. Glowing but not bright.”

“He’s being polite, but the apartment is supposed to be gray-free to avoid stressing him out,” Pidge chimes in, looking up from her rainbow-colored notes.

“Oh, I’m very sorry! I could go home and change if-“

“Don’t bother,” I interrupt. “Just throw on one of Hunk’s shirts and we’ll be good.” To which Shay nods and complies. Studying goes quite smoothly after that.

 

**Monday, May 24th 2:36pm**

Keith asked me to come over today to hang out after finals. Just me. Alone. I tap my pencil nervously and try desperately to focus on the shining paper in front of me covered in symbols I can’t read. The substitute took away my glasses so now I can’t see my test and my head hurts and hoW AM I SUPPOSED TO FOCUS ON ANYTHING WHEN KEITH WANTS TO HANG OUT AFTER THIS GOD-AWFUL TEST?! _ALONE!!_ It probably means nothing to him, but to me it’s like asking a vampire to come into a hospital full of bleeding people. I mean, usually we hang out in a group so I don’t feel too tempted to make a move or do something stupid. But it it’s just the two of us, how will I resist?

My train of thought comes crashing to a halt when an insistent throbbing in my eyes makes itself known. All the unnatural, eerie bioluminescence is getting to me. I raise my hand, teeth gritting as I wait for the sub lady to notice me.

She doesn’t. She’s far too busy reading a magazine.

So I get up and march over to her desk. “Ms. Merla, may I _please_ have my glasses? I can’t see my test.”

She lets out an exasperated, tired sigh, “I’ve told you already that unless you have special permission, I can’t do that. And Ms. Domingo didn’t leave any special instructions. It would be unfair to the other students if you had any kind of enhancement.”

_‘What, do you think I’m going to cheat or something?!’_ I think. Out loud I say, “Then call the principle. I have his explicit consent to wear those all day every day.” I can feel the eyes on me; the other students are sympathizing. They know all about my “special condition,” as Vice Principle Steele once called it.

Ms. Merla lets out another sigh and picks up the receiver. A few moments later she says, “Sorry to bother you Mr. Graham, but I have a student who needs special permission.” A pause. “His name is Lance McClain, he’s trying to tell me about these glasses—“ she flushes in embarrassment and nods, “Of course, I apologize. Yes, I understand. Sorry to bother you.” She hangs up, fumbling a bit with the phone. This elicits snickers from the class. “I’m sorry Lance, here you go.” She hands me my glasses and I quickly put them on, finding relief instantly.

“Thank you.” I turn on my heel and go back to my desk to take my final final. It’s much easier to see through the blue tint now covering my eyes and protecting my peripherals.

 

**Monday, May 24th 4:47pm**

I’m still wearing the glasses even in Keith’s house. And thank God. Keith is a pretty emo guy so most of his stuff is gray or black or some variation of red. None of us know what his color is. He never told anyone. I personally think it’s green but he won’t tell me even after all this time.

Anyway, that’s not important right now. What is important is Keith. He’s sitting next to me right now, our knees bumping as he obliterates me in Mario Kart. It’s too hard to focus on anything but our legs touching, honestly. I blink as he _very purposefully_ hits me with a green shell at point-blank range as he laps me. I’m literally in last place already!

“Ha, ha! Take _that_ Lancelot!”

I blush at the nickname and bite my lip. Why is he being so cute? He’s never like this. _‘It’s probably the stress finally being released,’_ I tell myself.

When he wins yet again I concede defeat, “I’m done playing. You keep winning.” I sigh dramatically and flop over Keith’s lap. “Please have mercy on me.”

Keith chuckles (yes, he _actually chuckles_ ) and he pats my head, running his fingers briefly through my hair, “You never quit a challenge. It’s unlike you. But fine. Only if you stay for dinner.”

I pretend to think for a moment before responding, “Hm… okay deal.” I beam up at him.

“Please get off my lap now.” He bounces his legs slightly, “I need to find something for us to eat.”

“No,” I pout, “you’re comfy. I mean, I’m comfortable.” I say quickly.

Keith grumbles and pushes me off his lap onto the floor. I grab onto his ankles to prevent him from going anywhere.

“Lance, please, I don’t even know if I have food here.”

“Just order pizza!” I suggest, snapping the band of his sock against one ankle.

He swats me away, “Fine. Shiro leaves me alone for two days and I start eating unhealthy,” He grumbles, fixing me with a glare as he grabs his cell phone to place an order.

 

**Monday, May 24th 10:43pm**

Somehow, maybe be some miracle, Keith asked me to stay the night and now we’re finishing Sharknado 2 (which is somehow worse than the first one). A yawn escapes me and I stretch my arms out. Keith slumps against me, asleep. Normally I’d be upset if the person who chose the movie fell asleep (he’d insisted we watch the first one first, so here we are 3.5 hours later, halfway through the second movie…). But this was Keith. So, instead of being angry, I take this chance to put my arm around his shoulders. Warmth bubbles in my chest and I can’t help but smile. I even dare to drop the lightest kiss into his raven-colored hair (which smells like campfires and honey, by the way).

A little while later, when the credits are done rolling, I gently nudge Keith awake. He sits up and rubs his eyes, “What time is it?”

I check my phone, “Almost midnight. We should go to bed if you’re tired.”

Keith nods and pops his back, “Yeah, good idea. D’ya wanna come sleep in my room?”

My breath catches, my heart stops. _‘Keith’s room? The room that is Keith’s? The room where Keith sleeps?!’_ “Yes,” I reply before I realize I’ve even opened my mouth. My voice comes out surprisingly steady considering my heart is now fluttering in my chest.

Keith stands, holding his hand out to me, “Come on then, le’s go.”

“But…” the rational part of my mind forces me to speak even as I follow Keith back to his room, our fingers interlocked, “… I don’t have any pajamas.” I hadn’t brought anything with me because I hadn’t planned on staying.

Keith simply shrugs and begins stripping. I turn away with a red-hot blush. “You can borrow some of mine,” he says. “They’re probably too short though.”

“Yes please, it’s fine.” A pair of gray pants drape over my head as Keith places them there and his fingers brush the back of my neck, making me shiver. He pulls away and climbs into bed. I change into the borrowed pants quickly and hesitate. _‘Should I sleep on the floor? Ask for an air mattress? Or does he want me to—‘_

“You coming?” He answers my silent question by shifting over in the bed. He eyes me expectantly.

I nod, resolved, and move to lay down.

“Wait,” Keith says suddenly and I feel my stomach drop, afraid for a moment that he’s changed his mind. But then he says, “Turn off the light first,” and relief floods my body.

Then cold dread sets in again as my mind processes his request. He wants the light off. That means darkness (obviously), and he doesn’t seem to have a night light of any kind. That’s the kind of darkness that won’t let your eyes perceive color. That means gray. So. Much. Gray. So much that my glasses can’t block it out because they, too, become gray. That much gray, er… bioluminescence, is terrifying. I feel my heartrate increase at the thought. Air seems too thick, it’s too hard to breath. I start trembling.

“I… uh… I’m afraid of the dark…” I admit quietly. “Because it hurts and… it’s so… so _bright_ I can’t…” words fail me.

“Hey, it’s okay Lance. I understand.” Keith comes over and puts his hands on my elbows, which I didn’t realize I’d gripped tightly, my fingernails digging into my skin. “Can you see it with your eyes closed?”

I bite my lip and shake my head, afraid that if I tried to speak nothing would come out.

“Good. Then close your eyes.”

I hesitate. Then take a deep breath and let my eyelids flutter shut. A moment later the reddish tinge turns black. Keith slowly moves his hands up my arms, touching the sides of my face and removing my glasses.

“I’ll put these on the bedside table so you can find them in the morning. I’ll be right back.” He leaves me for a few seconds, the heat that had been radiating off him disappearing with him and leaving me alone in the dark. Then he returns, gently prying my hands off my elbows and tugging, “Come on then, I’ll lead you.”

I take a few steps forward and my thigh bumps the edge of the bed. He lets go of my hands again.

“Com one,” Keith encourages. The sound of the sheets and blankets moving tells me that Keith is in bed now.

Reaching out hands first I crawl onto the mattress and touch something warm and solid.

“That’s my chest,” the other boy huffs out a quiet laugh.

I’m glad the darkness hides my blush as I pull away. I feel for a pillow and lay down. I can feel Keith’s warmth radiating from his side of the bed.

“How do you sleep at night?” His voice softly permeates the silence.

“With the light on. The dark is really freaky.” I answer in a similar tone.

“Really?”

“Yep. I mean, well, I have a night light that’s pretty bright but… yeah.”

Keith seems to consider this for a moment. Then he asks, “Do you think you’ll ever be able to see gray?” The real question remains unspoken, hanging in the air between us: “Do you think you’ll ever find your soulmate?”

“What is this, twenty questions?” I joke.

“What’s twenty questions?”

I almost open my eyes to roll them. Almost. “If you listen carefully you can hear that reference going over your head.”

“I don’t hear anything.”

I sigh dramatically, undoubtedly into Keith’s face. “Okay but no, seriously. I really don’t know if I will or not. There aren’t very many gray-eyed people in the world and the only one I know is you and I think it’s pretty obvious you’re not my soulmate.”

“Because I’m a guy?” He sounds a little offended. I wince.

“No, no. Because we see each other every day and I still see bioluminescence.”

“It’s really just luminescent. There’s nothing ‘bio’ about it.”

“Shut up,” I scold, “you know what I mean.”

He chuckles and shifts, his arm bumping my chest as he turns over to face the other way. “Yes. I know what you mean. Hey, you want to know what my color is?”

I suck in a sharp breath and unintentionally scoot closer, his hair tickles my nose. He’s never told any of us before and I’ve always been curious. “Yeah, I’d like to know. If you want to tell me.”

“First, do you think that two people can have a good relationship if they’re not soulmates?”

The question throws me off guard but I readily answer, “Yes,” and bring one hand up to grip Keith’s shoulder. He seems to lean into the touch, but I may just be imagining things. I elaborate, “I think we should be happy on Earth while we have the chance. With or without our so-called ‘soulmates.’”

“Me too.” He admits casually, reaching around to grab my hand in the darkness. My breath catches when he interlaces our fingers. “Is this okay?”

I almost can’t believe he’s asking that. Of course this is okay! I squeeze his hand, “Yes.”

I hear him take a fluttering breath. “It’s blue.”

“What’s blue?”

“My color.”

I almost laugh out loud, “What are the odds? My eyes are—“

“Blue,” he says at the same time as me. “I know. Before we met in person, when we were still online friends, I’d kinda hoped it’d be you. I was… disappointed when we finally met and it wasn’t.”

“Keith?” I whisper, cracking open my eyes and swallowing back the urge to throw up at all the glowing non-light around me. “You wanted…”’

“To date you? Yeah, but I figured you wouldn’t want to because biology or whatever says we’re not compatible. And, you know, I’m a guy.” He’s rambling a bit now.

“Keith! Keith, I wanted to too. I don’t care about the color thing. I never have. And I’m bi so it doesn’t matter that you’re a guy.” I wrap my arms around him and nuzzle his neck. “Is this okay?”

He nods, I can feel it, and he turns to look at me just as a moonbeam filters in through a crack in his curtains, offering just enough light to make out his face among the confusing splotches of luminescent lights. We lock eyes and the world suddenly goes dark.

I scream.

I’m talking blood-curdling, girl-in-a-horror-movie scream.

Keith recoils violently, “L-Lance? What’s wrong?!” Keith is panicking just as much as I am.

“I-I can’t see! Everything is dark and I c-can’t…”

Keith moves back over to me, holding my face in his hands. We’re sitting now, bolt upright in panic. “Hey, sh, it’s just the dark. Close your eyes, it’ll go away. The luminescence will—“

“No! It’s _gone_ Keith! I-I can’t see anything anymore! I’m blind!” Which didn’t make sense because I can still see Keith’s outline in front of me.

“Wait, the luminescence is… gone?”

“Yes! Gone!”

“Okay, okay, it’s okay, stay here. I’m going to turn on the light.”

“No!” I grab his arms, “Don’t leave!” I plead.

“Lance,” he says softly, “I’m just turning on the light so you can see. I’ll be right back.”

I reluctantly let go of him and he scurries over to turn on the light.

Color floods my vision and he sits back down in front of me. His breath catches, “Lance…” he touches my face, “Your eyes…” His own eyes widen.

I gasp when I notice odd-colored irises where luminescent rings should be. “K-Keith?” My voice shakes, uncertain.

“Is this..? Are we..?”

“Soulmates?” I finish, looking into his eyes. It’s such a pretty color… suits him so well. I wish I could stare into them forever, discovering more of those darker gray flecks and finding new shades of a new color I’ve never seen before. “But how? We’ve been friends for years now.”

He glances over at the bedside table where my blue-tint glasses sit, but I wish he’d never look away from me. “The blue tint,” he breathes, finally looking back at me, “it distorted the color so you never saw my eyes for real.”

“So it’s my fault that we didn’t start dating sooner?!” I cry in anguish.

Keith blushes, “S-sooner?”

“Oh, right, uh… I’ve been meaning to ask you out for a while now but I never got around to it…” I admit.

“Seriously?!”

“Yeah. Keith, will you be my boyfriend?” There’s only a hint of shyness in my voice.

“Yes.” He answers without hesitation.

I grin and hug him. “We can go to bed now.”

“What? How am I supposed to sleep now?!” He tackles me to the bed and we lie there for a while talking. I revel in all the _gray_ stuff around me, taking in the different shades (my favorite has to be Keith’s eyes).

We eventually turn the light off and I cling to Keith in the dark, spooning him during my first night in the dark.

 

And that’s the story of how I figured out one of my best friends was my soulmate. At 12:43am on May 25th. Definitely the most amazing day ever. We got to skip all the awkward get-to-know each other stuff and went on our first real date that day. It was also frustrating because I had to adjust to a new color and despair over all the lost time I’d missed being Keith’s boyfriend while we wasted our time being platonic friends. If I’d just taken off the stupid glasses..! Anyway, I remember the first thing Keith did when we went out the next day was ask if the sky had always been that color. He’s so perfect… I’m so glad I get to spend the rest of my life with him.


End file.
